25 February 2007

Internement of UK citizens in Virginia, evidence suggesting the secretary of state of the USA collaborated with corporate elements to start a war in a -stan country, gay men kissing, lots of death, general mayhem, and a morally bankrupt leadership. A wag the dog style indictment of the US administration. And, did I mention Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) is the main character?

The acting in this BBC series is brilliant, the writers did not have to be very imaginative because the material is ready-made. Anybody who's been following geopolitics will understand the references... so it's a great watch. US citizens of a right-wing mentality may be very angry at the show, but I think it is useful for Americans to see how the rest of the world perceives the driving force behind US foriegn policy.

Americans are taught that their nation stands for freedom, free thought, free expression, and democracy. They are also taught that their country tries to promote these values in foriegn lands. Several actions the US government has taken does not add up to these values:

1. Coup that removed Patrice Lumumba from power in Zaire in the 60s. Led to Mobutu Sese Seko taking dictatorial control and the assasination of Lumumba.

2. Overthrow of Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 50s. This lead to dictatorship of Reza Shah Pahlavi. He could not find any support among the population and was overthrown. The Iranians blamed the US government for Reza Shah, leading to the hostage crisis.

3. Support to various Pakistani dictators. The USA sold weapons to Pakistan in the 60s which led them to start a war against India in 1965. They also had help from the Joradian air force in that war, again using US weapons. In 1971, using US weapons again, the Pakistani army massacred about 3 million civilians in Bangladesh. India tried to help the Bangladeshis while the US sent an aircraft carrier to the Bay of Bengal to intimidate India.

4. Saddam and Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 or weapons of mass destruction.

I'm sure there are other things I'm missing. So the credibility of the USA to export democratic values has been tarnished by the USA itself. Now, I'm not saying that any other country would have behaved any differently in the same position. Bloody hell, I'm not even saying that I would have done anything else if faced with the ability to make those decisions. I'm just saying that the blinkers US citizens have about their government should maybe... be taken off. It's only what citizens should expect from a democracy.

:) actually i'm saying malfoy does a good potter. I haven't watched 24 but lots of people seem to be fans of it. state within seems to be 24 + west wing. Why does everything seem better with a British accent?

siddhu thanks... that's an extensive list. based on what I've heard from average americans around here, they have no idea of these foriegn policy decisions. They think that the US sends a lot of money to other countries and tries to police the world and can't figure out 'why they hate us.'

video it was on bbc america. there might be a way to get it - talk to jose.

Anali That's a good point. So many of Africa's people suffered under slavery. I've seen the US media try to 'justify' slavery by saying that Africans themselves made slaves of other Africans so the blame is not all the European-Americans.

Although it is true that Africans made slaves of fellow Africans from other tribes, this was normally only for a certain period of time and not in perpetuity. And, Europe / USA were fuelling the demand for more and more slaves. Anyway, hopefully slavery never ever happens again.

With this post I was hoping that Americns would realise that their actions to secure their high living standards will end up hurting someone. I did not get the feeling that most Americans knew about this (and got the feeling that they would disapprove if they did know).